First Trip as Sailboat Owners – Logistics & Cats On Board
Each morning we wake up and I look over at Jason and whisper, “we live on a boat”. I’m so excited I almost can’t stand myself lately.
Everything around us is so intoxicatingly different. I hear water lapping and barnacles tapping. The air smells moist and I can feel the coarse grains of salt as I run my hands along the railing.
Everyone keeps coming over and asking “where will you go”? Which sends my head spinning with far too many possibilities? I slip into a blank stare imagining an open ocean with no land in sight and dolphins playing in our wake. I dizzily slip back into the conversation with, “we have some learning to do before we go anywhere”.
That’s where we are now. Somewhere between elated in a dream-like state and inundated with the realities of boat ownership.
Our days here at the previous owners slip in Vero Beach have flown by. We’ve been busy cleaning, organizing and getting familiar with all the systems. Much to the disappointment of the B dock crew, and ourselves, we only made it to one of the daily 4:30ish Happy Hour gatherings.
I don’t fully know how to describe the comradery that exists here. Motor boaters, sailors, couch surfers, full timers, part timers, in betweeners…none of it matters as long as you are on something that floats.
Everyone offered up some piece of advice, shared their favorite anchor spot and generally assured us with enthusiasm for our choice of their beloved on-the-water lifestyle. “We’re so excited for you! You are in for such great adventures. Remember, it’s clothing optional in the Bahamas”.
We could have used a few more of those happy hour hang out sessions before heading off. The dock was loaded with old salty dogs eager to share their tips and tricks, but alas, it was time to move along. You see, we aren’t on our own time yet. Our spot is actually pre-paid for another few days but our insurance requires us to have someone knowledgeable on board while the vessel is underway.
We’ve guilt tripped Kent (our broker) into sailing down with us. Fortunately it appears he works for high quality coffee and yummy food, which we have plenty to offer. It was sad to say goodbye to our new friends so quickly but we have a long list of things to attend to in Ft. Lauderdale and we’re itching to take our new digs out for a stroll!
The Cats First Sailboat Outing
It was nice, slow, and calm conditions for the cats first boat ride. Both Singa and Cleo are adapting to boat life as if there really is no transition. The six years of RV travel might have a little something to do with that. We didn’t let them out a lot or for very long. We’re taking it slow and don’t want them getting too comfortable until we have done some cat overboard training exercises. They are both great swimmers (I won’t say they liked it, but we have tested their swimming skills several times throughout the years) but we would rather not practice our first man overboard drill on the cats.
Cleo is far more comfortable while under way in the boat than she was in the RV. She is happy to simply sit inside by the door or in the cockpit and roll around in the sunlight. Singa, on the other hand, is his typical must be involved in everything going on self. They are already loving the extra freedom and outside time they get when we are at anchor.
To be perfectly honest it think they will like the boat life way more than the RV life. When the boat is going fast it’s only doing a whopping 10mph equivalent. While under sail it’s quiet and there’s a breeze always coming inside the cabin. When we’re anchored out they can sit outside with us off-leash and enjoy the outdoors in peace. It’s a far cry from the 60mph, pot-hole laden roads, semi trucks flying by at 80mph, always have to be on a leash, watch out for dogs, no windows open while driving life they’ve led in our motorhome the past several years. Don’t get me wrong, they loved the RV too but this will be a nice change for them.
Learning and Logistics
Every day we’re learning so much and trying to soak it all up like sponges. I think our heads might explode at any given moment. Even still, we’re having a hard time trying to focus fully on learning. There is too much background noise going on in our heads about all the loose ends we need to tie up. We still have the RV and things in the RV to deal with. Plus, we want to film everything while we learn so we can share and help other newbies like us.
Logistics is a word we keep repeating followed with a sigh. There are soooo many logistics to figure out while were in this awkward transitional period I like to call life-in-limbo.
We realize everything may come off as rainbows and unicorns sometimes on our site, in our videos and across our social media accounts…but in an effort to be transparent we want you to know this transition is HUGELY overwhelming, exciting, scary and frustrating. We may get around to a post one day about it, but writing out the negatives can be tricky, if done incorrectly it’ll just come off as complaining…and we definitely don’t want that. There are always challenges in life and being a full time traveler comes with it’s own set of challenges. So if you’re currently in a life-in-limbo period, know that it happens to all of us and the beautiful thing is there is light at the end of this tunnel, no matter how dark it may seem.
A Big Shout-Out to Kent
We didn’t pay him to join us on this two day trip. He’s not charging us the captain’s going rate of $350+ per day. He’s just a good guy that wants to see us become successful sailors. We’re not the first ones he’s done this for either, Pat & Ally of Bumfuzzle said he did the same for them way before they were famous bums. He’s not sponsoring us, he’s not making us do anything behind the scenes to pay him back, or anything like that. Sure he made decent money off the sale of our boat and he’ll continue to make money off of the service we’re getting done at Just Cats, but without him we’d have spent $600+ just getting our sailboat down to Ft. Lauderdale. We’ve told him thanks in private many times, but I feel its important to share our gratitude publicly too. So Kent, if you’re reading this: Thanks…but know when you start charging me for help the free fancy coffee fountain will dry up 🙂
Thanks For The Love!
Thank you!!! I have to tell you, all of your positive and helpful comments have been keeping us going! We read every single one of them. We appreciate each one of you and love that you are a part of our journey.
If you’re in a Life-in-Limbo transition yourself, or you’ve just made it over that hump, feel free to share. I know it sounds like an oxymoron coming from a traveler but…I am ready to be settled so I can get to the learning and adventure part!
